1. Field of the Invention
This invention has relation to the storing of a wheelchair on top of a car and the raising and lowering of the wheelchair to and from the car top in such a manner that a person who needs the wheelchair to enter and leave the car can accomplish such raising and lowering and storage without the aid of others.
2. Description of Prior Art
A number of schemes and structures have been devised to accomplish the purpose of the invention as set out above. See U.S. Pat No. 4,134,509 granted to Clement in January of 1979; U.S. Pat. No. 4,039,096 granted to McAllister in August of 1977; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,878,955 granted to Udden in April of 1975.
In the Clement and McAllister patents, a winch fixedly mounted to the floor of a car top carrier case is used together with a cable to draw a wheelchair up from spaced relation to the side of a car, over the leading edge of the carrier case, and into a stored position inside of the case. In the case of the McAllister patent, a U-shaped auxiliary lifting frame member is pivotably mounted to a rectangular movable frame extension. When the wheelchair comes up into contact with this auxiliary lifting frame member, it pivots back to a substantially horizontal position to attempt to lift the wheelchair over the outer rectangular movable frame extension. The cable then continues to pull to draw the wheelchair into the case.
In the case of the McAllister patent, the lifting of the wheelchair from vertical position on the ground to horizontal position aligned with the carrier case is accomplished by the use of linear hydraulic piston/cylinder motors. Once this is accomplished, the winch and cable are used to pull the wheelchair into the case.
In the case of the Udden patent, the entire case comes off of the top of a car, pivoting on a horizontal axis set at about the lower level of the passenger window. Cables hanging down from the bottom of the case are attached to the wheelchair, and the wheelchair is hauled by a winch and cable arrangement up inside of the now vertical wheelchair case. Once the wheelchair is inside, the case is again pivoted up onto the top of the car, using the power from the winch and winch motor mounted on the car top and not on the case.
Recently there have been others who have advertised similar structures for accomplishing the purpose of this invention. To date, none have caught on to the extent that they are commercially available on the market in quantity.
The patents set out above were uncovered in a search of a forerunner of the structure of this invention.
The inventor and those in privity with him are aware of no prior art which is closer than that discussed above; and are aware of no prior art which anticipates the claims made herein.